Canada announces preliminary roster for World Championship Team

CALGARY, AB - Hockey Canada announced on Saturday that nine NHL players will represent Canada at the upcoming Men's World Hockey Championship in Latvia. Canada's World Championship team will conduct a four day training camp from April 29-May 2, 2006 in Minsk, Belarus, including pre-World Championship game against Belarus on May 2nd. The 2006 IIHF Men's World Championship will take place in Riga, Latvia from May 5-21, 2006.

Nine NHL players have been named to Canada's World Championship roster by Team Canada General Manager Ken Holland (Vernon, BC/ Detroit Red Wings). This group includes five players with previous World Championship experience and that won gold at this event (2004 - Patrice Bergeron, Marc Denis, Nick Schultz; 2003 - Kyle Calder, Mike Comrie). All nine players have international experience, although three players (Alex Auld, Brad Boyes, Sidney Crosby) will be taking part in their first World Championship. These nine NHL players arrived Saturday in Belarus for a four day training camp:

Over the coming days, as the first round of the NHL playoffs comes to an end, Holland, along with Assistant General Manager Mike Barnett (Calgary, AB/ Phoenix Coyotes), Team Canada Head Coach Marc Habscheid (Swift Current, SK/ Hockey Canada) and assistant coaches Claude Julien (Blind River, ON/ Hockey Canada) and Trent Yawney (Hudson Bay, SK/ Chicago Blackhawks) will be naming additional NHL players to complete Canada's 25 player roster for the World Championship.

"We are very excited about this first group of players that has committed to play for Canada," said Ken Holland, Team Canada General Manager. "I believe that this group of players is well prepared for the World Championship because of their international experience at the junior level or the men's level. The pool of quality Canadian players will be getting bigger in the coming days, and we are looking forward to putting together a highly skilled and competitive team that will make Canada proud."

Canada will open the 2006 IIHF Men's World Championship in Riga, Latvia on Friday, May 5th versus Denmark (TSN/RDS: 1pm ET / 10am PT). All of Canada's games will be broadcast live from Latvia on TSN/RDS, the official broadcaster of Hockey Canada. Canada will play in the preliminary round in a group that includes Denmark, Norway and the USA.

For further information on Canada's 2006 Men's World Championship team, and the IIHF Men's World Championship, go to Hockey Canada's official website at www.hockeycanada.ca.